The Lead

The curvy Coca-Cola bottle is celebrating its 100th birthday, and an art museum is exploring the origins and influence of a bottle design that's so recognizable, you'd know the brand if you held it in the dark.

Milk is one of the food bank items most in demand by Americans living in food-insecure households. Suley Muratoglu, vice president of Tetra Pak, examines how shelf-safe milk can help fill in the gaps for food banks, while providing supply chain and environmental benefits for manufacturers.

Nathan's Famous is now making it easier for health-conscious consumers to enjoy the great taste of its original frankfurters by introducing a new 50-percent reduced-fat variety. The company unveiled the new product this week along with a first look at updated packaging featuring bold, high-impact graphics and easy-to-read product labeling.

The InvisiPac GM100 Plug-Free Hot Melt Applicator offers all the benefits of plug-free adhesive dispensing in a compact design, and is ideal for both original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and end user packaging equipment for the food and beverage industry.

Inventor David Edwards is trying to change the way we take in nutrition. His best known creation is wikicells, an edible skin meant to replace traditional food packaging. Edwards' biggest problem isn't creating these alternatives, but selling the public on them.

After many incidents where kids accidentally ate edible marijuana products led to a string of emergency room visits, new laws were put in place to mitigate these risks. The laws affect how much THC — the active chemical in pot — are allowed in edible marjiuana products and how they're packaged so that it's not as easy to take too much.

PACK EXPO East will be a resource for food brands, processors, and packagers seeking the latest solutions and insights to improve the sustainability, efficiency productivity and security of the manufacturing supply chain.

Kenji Ekuan, the Japanese industrial designer who crafted the soy sauce dispenser, passed away at 85 last Saturday. The Kikkoman bottle has become a symbol of soy sauce not just in Japan, but around the entire world.

The maker of Red Bull energy drinks is challenging a Virginia craft brewery's use of the word "ox" in its brand name. Red Bull has filed an opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against trademark applications from Old Ox Brewery in Ashburn, Virginia.

It may be tempting for food and beverage manufacturers to play up the best qualities of their products on the labeling, but if manufacturers let one small word slip onto a label, the consequences could be very costly.

Research shows that proper packaging helps food last longer and lessens food waste. There are many ways manufacturers can help combat food waste while limiting the environmental impact of packaging. Here are three of the most important.

New rules in Colorado require warnings about the effects of edible marijuana. The snacks already pack a financial punch, as they make up approximately 45 percent of the state's cannabis market. Fortunately, the edibles industry seems to be welcoming the new regulations.

While plastics boast numerous benefits, such as extending the shelf life of food, efforts to keep it from impacting the environment have failed to keep pace with its use. It’s estimated that in the U.S., only 9 percent of post-consumer plastic was recycled in 2012.

Milk sales in the U.S. have dropped to a 30-year low, a trend the dairy industry describes as devastating. Industry executives say it's because their products and packaging are old fashioned and in need of innovation, but some families also have health concerns.

Food and beverage processors are increasingly turning towards robotics for the technology’s slew of benefits including reduced costs, upped throughput and increased food and worker safety. While robotics does boast various benefits to food manufacturing, it’s important to follow some best practices during your own implementation.

Coating the mouth with BPA-containing food, like soup, does not lead to higher than expected levels of BPA in blood, a new study in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology shows. The study authors conclude that oral exposure does not create a risk for high exposures.

The U.S. is in the process of establishing its own changes to labeling laws. While the the FDA and European labels are different, both are focused on better legibility, more comprehensive information, and specific nutrient information (fats and added sugars, etc.).

On Jan. 24, 1935, Krueger Brewing of Richmond, Virginia sold the very first beer can. While the beer cans of 80 years ago don't look too different from the cans of today, consumers had to actually crack open a cold one by using a can opener.

Cascade Locks City Council voted to seek the Oregon Water Resources Department's permission to swap a portion of its well water right for .5 cubic feet per second of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's right to draw 10 cubic feet per second from Oxbow Springs.

Packaging with nitrogen displaces the air inside a package to keep oxygen at controlled levels (less than 2 percent). An in-house nitrogen generator is the most efficient and economical source of nitrogen and it can extend food product shelf life.

In a recent report, the EFSA has concluded that bisphenol A poses “no consumer health risk” to anyone at any age. This is just the latest in an ongoing back and forth between scientists, government officials and industry insiders on just how dangerous BPA might be.

An unparalleled demographic shift is taking place worldwide as record numbers of people are living longer — sometimes much longer. For food and beverage makers and retailers, this change opens up huge and exciting opportunities.